


Trick Or Treat

by Kariachi



Series: Souls & Switches [6]
Category: Ben 10 Series
Genre: Alternate Universe - Daemons, Gen, i am ben ben is me i feel no shame, oh look fluffy holiday fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-31
Updated: 2017-10-31
Packaged: 2019-01-27 08:28:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,312
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12577744
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kariachi/pseuds/Kariachi
Summary: Halloween, a time of costumes, candy, and generosity. Best holiday.





	Trick Or Treat

The night is hot and Cassie is splayed out on the porch panting in her little black cape. Annelie’s decided to beat the heat as a deep black jaguar, laying ominously on the roof and watching as Susi prowls the yard. They’ve made sure all but the porch light are off so the large daemon can melt into the shadows as they tail children up the walk. Nobody is sure how, with their thick fur, they’re managing to survive the ninety degree weather, but then they aren’t sure how Argit is surviving either and they aren’t willing to ask.

“The twin Deaths!” Ben says as a brother-sister pair, seemingly around ten and seven, head up the walk towards them. The little girl beams at them, clutching her scythe close as her brother rolls his eyes. For a moment he makes to bop her with his own, but a sharp look from Kevin- dressed as a very convincing ax-murderer, he’s even put fake blood on Annelie to complete the look- stops him. “Looking good!”

“Thank you,” the girl says and does a twirl, her sparkly pink dress flaring out and her daemon taking wing as a vulture. This time her brother’s daemon joins in on the eye rolling. She’s a vulture as well, though a different species, and it’s all too clear that what had started as a pretty princess costume had been greatly influenced by wanting to be like the big kids. The girl smiles at Argit when she stops. “I like your costume.”

“Thanks.” Argit beams back at her with his full mouth of teeth and her eyes go wide. Like Susi he’s decided to take advantage of the holiday to not hide himself in public. “Like yours too, I like the ribbons on your scythe.”

“You like ribbon on anything,” Kevin laughs as the girl smiles wider, and turns his head to present the braid he’d arrived with and the length of black ribbon holding it in place. “He even put some on me, it’s awful.” Even her brother chuckles at that one, even louder once Argit plucks a piece of chocolate from the bowl in Ben’s lap and throws it at Kevin’s head.

“And you went classic,” Ben says to him with a grin. He has, the full cloak and scythe and chains combo with skeleton gloves on his hands and his hood pulled down so the dark skin of his face all but vanishes in the shadow.

“Yeah, we wanted to be creepy.”

“You pulled it off.” Ben doesn’t wait for a ‘trick-or-treat’, just extends the bowl and watches them both grab as big a handful as they can.

“Thank you,” they say in unison and the girl give a playful shriek when Susi snaps their jaws a foot from her ankle and ‘chases’ them away from the house with the daemons wheeling overhead. They follow them as far as they can, then watch as they head next-door.

“You keep giving out treats like that Benny, you’re gonna run out.” Ben and Cassie share a smirk.

“That’s the plan,” she says, “we clean out the bowl, then go inside, shut off the light, and have the extra bag all ready for us.” The older teens give them a sharp look and Annelie jumps down to the ground just long enough to bop Cassie over the head. “Hey!“

“Bad heroes,” Kevin says, twirling what Ben is hoping- though not hope _ful_ \- is a fake hatchet, “trying to do bad by the little kids.”

“For _shame_ , Benny, for shame.” Not wanting to get into an argument with a literal murderer and a con-artist about morality, Ben just shakes his head.

“So,” he asks, changing to the next best subject he knows, “how’s Alan and Cooper’s night going?”

“According to Cooper,” Kevin responds, pulling out his phone and checking the texts they’ve been swapping, “they have hit half the houses they plan to, Raelene has given up and is being carried around by Monarch, and has he mentioned that Alan is adorable.”

“Only about six times tonight.”

“Also there’s another picture.” The others all snort, it is after all the third one that night, but they also crowd in around Kevin’s phone for a look. Alan is the same beet red he’s been since he realized that when Cooper’d convinced him to go trick-or-treating in a tuxedo he’d planned to go as Sailor Moon- “I still say he rocks those pigtails”- and his brothers are both beaming as a dragon and a werewolf respectively. His younger sister meanwhile is yet another axe murderer and holding up a handful of gummy body parts.

“Damnit,” Kevin says, frowning at the image, “she’s ahead of me.” Ben pats his shoulder.

“You’re the one who challenged her to a ‘who can get the most body parts’ contest.”

“Yeah, yeah, how’s Gwen holding up?” Argit waves them both quiet as Susi begins stalking another set of kids up the walk, four elementary schoolers of various ages, including Superman, the Toothfairy, and a ninja, with puppies of various breeds bounding at their feet. The fourth is King Kong and her daemon, in the shape of a chimpanzee, has a bib and his own bag.

Kevin and Argit sneak them both extra candy when the others weren’t looking.

“But yeah,” Ben says once Susi has tracked them down to the sidewalk, pulling out his own phone, “I think she said she was handing out. Yeah, half out of candy, but she’s doing good. Apparently Emily’s a mermaid this year.”

“A what?” Argit tilts his head, ear twitching, and Ben has to remind himself not to chuckle at his friend’s lack of Earth knowledge.

“Human from the waist up,” Kevin explains, “fish from the waist down.” The alien still looks confused, but simply shakes his head.

“Humans are weird.”

“You should try _being_ one.”

“Yeah, no thanks. You lot can keep your weirdness to yourselves.”

“Toddler incoming.” Annelie jumps from the roof as she gives warning, shifting into a black cat as Kevin ducks inside and Susi melts fully into the darkness. There's a limit on how creepy you can be around the _little_ little kids.

A young woman with a labrador daemon pushes a stroller up the walk, a little ninja turtle and rat by their side. Ben flashes fake fangs at them as they came closer and Argit gives a wave

“Hey guys,” the hero says, Cassie getting to her feet long enough to sniff at the toes of the tiny dragon in the stroller, “what cool costumes you have!” The baby giggles, a tiny sparrow at his throat, and his sister grins, holding out her bag.

“Twick o’tweat!”

Everybody visibly melts and this time it's Argit scooping handfuls of candy into the bag, leaning over her to drop chocolate into the one hanging off the stroller for her brother. Their mother and her daemon laugh.

“What do you say,” she asks and the small rat-shaped daemon perks up. That’s when they realize that he’s wearing a little outfit too, which makes the whole thing worse.

“‘Ank oo!”

“You’re welcome!”

They manage to keep up the smiles and waves as they leave and head next door, waiting until they’re passed the property line before Argit and Susi make broken little sounds in their throats. The others laugh, even Kevin as he walks back out with a handful of orange, pumpkin-shaped rice krispie treats to share.

“So, ‘weird’, huh,” Ben teases as he bites into his treat. Shifting back into a jaguar, Annelie jumps back onto the roof and Susi comes back into the slightly-weaker shadows. Argit just rolls his eyes and swallows a chunk of treat whole.

“Yeah, ‘weird,” he says, leaning against Ben’s chair. “Doesn’t mean you can’t make cute kittens though.” Ben chuckles again.

“I'll be sure to let Ken know you feel that way.”


End file.
